Stormgrin: A Troopers Tale
by Firecadet
Summary: The autobiography of Major Junn Stormgrin, RSF. Spoilers for trooper questline. Eventual trooper/elara.


Stormgrin: A Trooper's Tale

17 Years after the Treaty of Coruscant, Deep Space Staging Post 1

As my unit transport dropped out of hyperspace, I tensed slightly. We were only two parsecs outside the Dromund system, and even though we were arriving at a republic position, I was still nervous. If the imps had rumbled us, and had found out the positions our fleet would be staging from, I could have been coming out of hyperspace into the face of a dozen Harrower dreadnoughts, along with dozens of Terminus Class escorts. Even with my skills in combat flying, supplemented by my slight force sensitivity, I would not be able to extract the BT-7 Thunderclap Assault craft I was flying in, along with the rest of my unit, from such an engagement before it was shot down.

Instead, we were greeted by the sight of half squadrons of Liberator starfighters patrolling through the main fleet formation, which consisted of a dozen Valor Class Cruisers, along with thirty Hammerhead cruisers and forty Thranta corvettes. Everything was safe. I let out a slightly relieved sigh, before activating the holocomm, and calling up the bridge of the command ship.

"Starsaber control, this is Havoc Squad. We have arrived in-system." I told the controllers.

"Good to have you here, Major." The man at the other end replied. "Transmitting docking instructions now."

When the instructions came through, they indicated we were assigned to a berth in the officer's hanger.

Pushing forward the sublight throttles, I began to move the Avenger, as we had chosen to christen the BT-7, forwards towards the command vessel, before leaving landing operations in the hands of Yunn, Havoc's Gand Findsman. In the main cabin, Aric Jorgan, the first member of Havoc Squad to come under my command, was calibrating the scope on his brand new sniper's blaster with the able assistance of Four-Ex, our battledroid, while my wife of the last two years, a human female and a deathmarked imperial defector, Elara Dorne Stormgrin, was packing her medical pack with a mixture of supplies, including some of the experimental Kolto-Bacta hybrid medical sprays and wound cleansing solutions that we had just been issued with, along with an assortment of gel patches that could be used to cover a larger wound and keep debris out.

We were down our demolitions expert, however. He had been arrested exiting a supply depot with a crate of thermal detonators. It wouldn't have been an issue, as havoc use them constantly, but he had no authorisation, and had not mentioned his plan to me before heading off. As a result, he was confined in a military barracks on Ord Gerilit, awaiting trial for theft.

Despite my best efforts, Garza had refused to let me break Fuse, the unit's former demolitions man, out of prison, informing me that she would have me shot for treason if I tried.

When we docked aboard the Starsaber, we were ushered through to the planning theatre. Once everyone was inside, the lights were dimmed, and Supreme Commander Jace Malcom, a former officer in charge of Havoc Squad began to speak.

"Thank you all for being here today." He began. "This is the day when we will finally end the Sith threat to democracy, to freedom and to liberty in the galaxy. This is the day when we will strike back, and repay the sacking with interest."

Then a second figure, clad in Jedi robes, stepped up to the platform, a man I instantly recognised as my brother, Eduran Stormgrin. We were both Mirialans, and we had both achieved much. He was a Jedi master, one of the most powerful in the order, while I was a soldier, in command of SpecForce's best unit.

He produced a small pointer from under his robes, before activating it, and aiming it into the large hologram that had materialised above the central plinth in the briefing chamber.

"this is the Dromund system, home of the empire." He said. "We are interested in the third planet of the system, Dromund Kaas, seat of the Sith empire and its emperor.

The purpose of this strike is threefold. One: to defeat the empire in a single, decisive engagement. Two: to finally destroy the body of Lord Vitiate, or the Emperor, as he is better known. Purpose three is to free as many of the slaves and other captives belonging to the empire as we can." he paused, taking a sip of water from the glass and jug on the speaker's lectern, before continuing. "For these purposes, we have assembled the largest battle fleet the republic has ever deployed. We have fifty Valor class cruisers, and in excess of two hundred Hammerhead cruisers and Thranta corvettes." At this point, he steeped back, and Commander Malcom took over again.

"The imperial fleet we would expect to be engaging, on the other hand, is considerable, with a strength estimated by the SIS to be forty Harrower dreadnoughts and about two hundred and fifty Terminus class destroyers and Gage class transports. While we could defeat such a force, the cost would be massive. Instead, we are using a long term SIS infiltration mission, which has given us control of the Dromund Kaas holonet, allowing us to despatch the majority of the enemy fleet to two other systems, which are currently reporting a massive assault, which is being carried out by the main elements of the task force. When the imperial fleet jumps out of the Dromund system, we will transmit the information to them, at which point they will jump into the Dromund system, a transit which will take approximately three hours. The imperial fleet, however, is not fitted with the same hyperdrive class as our fleet, and will take thirty-six hours to make the transit. The forces we have assigned to the punitive strikes would are such that the planetary defences could resist them for at least forty-eight hours, meaning that a strike would be able to smash them against the planet's own defence systems." Taking a deep breath, he leant backwards for a second, before continuing. "Instead, the imperial holonet will be locked down, so that no messages can be sent out of the system after the fleet has jumped, or can be sent from Dromund Kaas to recall the fleet or summon other units. Instead, whatever is left to defend the fleet, including potentially a battle station, will be under attack. We can expect two to four dreadnoughts to remain in system, along with their escorts. That will mean at worst, we will be facing four dreadnoughts and twenty to thirty escorts, with twelve capital starships and seventy escorts."

He sat down again, covertly deploying a flask of water, then a third officer, this time wearing a Starfighter Command uniform, stepped up to the table. "We have a total of 3200 starfighters in this unit of the fleet, along with 690 fleet bombers. The other squadrons are even larger, both in terms of vessel composition and fighter capacity."

As the session droned on, I tuned out, trusting that Elara would be taking all the notes I needed. Instead, my mind turned back to my childhood on Alderaan, in a small, secluded settlement in the hills.

Alderaan, Juran Hills, 14 years before the treaty of Coruscant.

"Junn!" my mother called, "come here, now."

Warily, I trotted over to the rear door of our small farmhouse, before noticing that my mother was holding one of our families' hunting blasters. When I got to her, she handed it to me, before giving me a small satchel. Inside it, there were dozens of spare powerpacks, two spare gas supplies, and a small survival blanket.

"The empire is coming." She told me, pointing up to the sky. Above, I could dimly see a silhouette, of a wedge shaped craft, the fore of which was split in two. Then Eduran, my brother, dashed up. She handed him a second weapon, before pushing us both into the woods. I never knew what happened to my mother, or to my brother Elruun. All I ever saw was a charred ruin where our house had been.

We fled into the woods, with the natural instinct of farmer's children guiding us. For the next week, we hunted, fished and snuck, often skirting imperial patrols, and occasionally taking pot-shots at small, isolated groups of troopers. I killed five, and Eduran killed eight before they started to hunt for us, forcing us towards the foothills and the forests edge.

We chose a small cave to make what we thought might be our last stand. Carefully, we dug sand from around the nearby stream, before carrying it up to the cave and building it into a defence, deep enough inside to escape notice by a casual observer. We were also armed with military weapons, which we had stolen from a pair of troopers we had ambushed a week before.

As we waited for the Sith army to find us, we scouted the area. We found much food, and gathered small amounts of it.

Then, one morning, Eduran came running into the cave from an impromptu observation post we had built using the local foliage.

"The sith army is coming." Was all he needed to say, before we grabbed our blasters, both the hunting weapons and the military rifles, and fled back into the woods. After about one hundred yards, we noticed a flash of white armour in the undergrowth. It was followed by a hand, waving us over.

When we penetrated the shrubbery, behind it, we found a tall man, wearing the white armour we had noticed previously, with red unit markings. The unit insignia was a circle, with a split arrowhead inside it, the point standing proud from the ring. His hair was dark, and he clearly hadn't shaved for several days.

"Where are you from?" he growled, not unkindly.

"Amalki village." I replied.

"And your names?" he asked, more softly.

"I'm Junn," I replied "and this is my brother Eduran."

"Why are you here?" he asked, glancing down the slope behind us.

"Because the Sith have come. Mother sent us away." was the only reply I could give him.

"And are you willing to fight them?" he asked.

"Yes, sir." I replied.

"Then I am temporarily recruiting you two into infantry squad 326." Then he turned round, and led us to the small camp they had built.

"Specs," he called to one of the other soldiers there. "Get these two a helmet each, and if you have some spare armour, cut it down to fit."

As I turned round, intending to thank the quartermaster, I instead saw my father, standing by one of the several fires.

He saw me as well.

Placing his small ration pack on a nearby log, he walked ever, before taking up both me and Eduran in a bear hug. Then he spotted our blasters, and the quartermaster walking over with a pair of helmets.

"Commander?" he said, his voice a spectrum of tones from reproach to confusion.

"why have you just recruited my kids?"


End file.
